Pennsylvania is renewing its commitment to transparency.
On April 18, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, who assumed office in January, signed an executive order to create an open data portal. The new portal is mandated to contain downloadable, machine-readable data, a feature not offered by the state’s existing transparency site called PennWATCH. The state Office of Administration is also mandated to help agencies find their most valuable data sets.
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Lawyers for Pennslyvania Gov. Tom Wolf this week tried to persuade the state Supreme Court that the governor was within his rights to undo the former governor's late-term appointment of a Republican legislative aide to head the state Office of Open Records.
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Gov. Tom Wolf pledged to be an “unconventional leader,” but one of his first actions in office smacks of an all-too-familiar brand of politics.
He removed the executive director of the Office of Open Records, firing him with Donald Trump-like flair: swiftly and seemingly with little justification.
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Gov. Tom Wolf is committed to changing the culture in Harrisburg.
Elected leaders should be open, transparent, and accountable to the people of Pennsylvania. Gov. Wolf has not only pledged to make this one of his top priorities, but has actually acted upon it.
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A governor’s first actions in office are watched closely by the media, presumably because they tell us something about their priorities.
Since Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, was inaugurated last week, he has signed a couple ethics-related executive orders. He has very publicly gone to war with the GOP by firing the chief of the state’s Office of Open Records, who was appointed by his predecessor Republican Gov. Corbett during his final days in office.
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A leading advocate of open government is calling on Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf to reconsider his firing of his predecessor’s appointee as director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records.
The Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition said today that Mr. Wolf’s decision last week to oust Erik Arneson and appoint an acting director will have a long-term, negative impact on its integrity. Mr. Arneson was appointed by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett a week before he left office.
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Gov. Tom Wolf spent part of his first day on the job Wednesday undergoing a few hours of training on ethics and making government open to the public.
Aides said the governor arrived at the Capitol at about 11 a.m., the morning after his inaugural ball, and parked his trademark Jeep outside the executive offices before joining senior staff and others for the training.
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